Immortality My Darlings
by HelloLovelyChick
Summary: AU; OC; "He'd been in love once before Katherine, at least he thinks it was love." "She loves him, but she was forced to let him go by the original who turned her."
1. Chapter One

**Immortality My Darlings**

**[IMPORTANT]**

**Rated M;** language, violence, and sexual scenes (I don't know if the one in this chapter can count though)

**Couples;** Damon/OC, Stefan/Elena, Klaus/Caroline, Bonnie/Jermey

**OOC At Times;** Putting this here just to be on the safe side (hopefully it won't be necessary)

**OC;** Just one or two that really matters

**AU;** Damon's first love isn't Katherine, Klaus is a good(ish) guy, the other Orginals are still themselves (just not quite as evil), Lydia and Sarah Smith exist (more on them later), an Stefan doesn't go on another blood bender

**Focused 3rd Person POV;** switches between Damon (odd chapters) and Lydia (even chapters)

**[The Summary in 255 Character or Less]**

**AU; OC;** "He'd been in love once before Katherine, at least he thinks it was love." "She loves him, but she was forced to let him go by the original who turned her."

**[Chapter One]**

He'd been in love once before Katherine, at least he thinks it was love.

Her name was Lydia Smith and she had been the most beautiful girl he had ever seen at the time. She had long, wavy, dark brown hair and bright blue eyes.

She had been a childhood friend and they were engaged to be married. The engagement hadn't been their choice though. Their fathers had insisted on it to cement the business deal between their families.

They're time together had been chaste and innocent, until the night of her older sister'a wedding. Lydia had stolen some alcohol and talked him into sneaking away to drink it.

She'd always been able to talk him into doing almost anything, just like Katherine could. The difference being that Lydia never made him do something he regretted later.  
But that night she lead him far into the gardens and she kissed him with more passion and fire then he had expected. He'd kissed her back, relishing in how her soft lips had felt.

"You aren't allowed to die while you're out there," she said when her lips left his, "I want you to come back to me and I want to grow old with you, just as I've grown up with you. I know that we're engaged, but please know that I want you to be happy and alive more then anything else, so if when you return you don't wish to marry then fine, I'll tell my father something to break this all off. Just say the word."

"I..."

"You don't need to say anything in response. I just wanted to make sure you knew what I've been thinking and feeling."

"I'll come back to you," he says, "I just hope that someone else won't take my place while I'm gone."

"No one ever could," she says, "I promise, no one will take your place in my heart."  
He kissed her after that, and he kept kissing her, wanting to remember every second of this moment with her. They didn't drink any of the alcohol she'd stolen, they just kissed.

She wrote to him everyday, until one day the letters stopped coming. He didn't know why until he received a letter from his brother, telling him about a fire that engulfed the Smith house, killing Lydia, her younger siblings, and her father.

During battle the next day he contemplated letting one of the enemy bullets take his life. But then he remembers what she told him

'_You aren't allowed to die while you're out there'_

She had asked him to live, so he'd lived.

. . .

He sips his bourbon slowly, trying to drown out the world a little. Katherine is stuck in the tombs, Stefan and Elena were back to being lovely dovey, and there was this looming threat of werewolves.

He needed at least a moment of quite, a moment were the world wasn't ending, a moment were he could pretend that everything wasn't so fucked up.

He needed a moment were he could close his eyes an think about what life with Lydia would have been like. He never would have fallen for Katherine, he wouldn't be a vampire right now, maybe he would have had children, and maybe he even would have had grandchildren.

He could have had a happy life with her, he's sure. But those possibilities flew out the window the second the fire engulfed her.

"What are you mopping about?" asks Stefan, breaking the moment.

"Who says I'm mopping?" he says, not wanting to get into this conversation with his brother.

"The bourbon," says Stefan, "So what is it?"

"Just enjoying a drink, brother," says Damon, rolling his eyes at his brother.

"Damon..."

"I think I might go see if I can get more information from Katherine on this big bad Klaus." He knows that it's pointless, but he doesn't care. It'll get him away from the love birds and maybe he'd mange to talk Katherine into saying something (though he knows that she won't say anything, he just doesn't want to see the woman he lives with his brother).

He doesn't let his brother say any more, not wanting to hear what his brother is about to say. It would probably be something about no letting Katherine get to him, or something about it being a bad idea.

Just the normal downer Stafen stuff.

He takes his time heading to the tombs, trying to think of some place better to go to. The tomb seemed the best place to be alone, since Katherine was to deprived of blood to do anything.

His mind wonders back to Lydia, which he's been doing more and more. He blames Elena for this, she made him care again. So it's all her fault.

But he'll admit a small smile crosses his lips at the thought of a life with the first girl he ever loved. He likes to think of her laugh, or her smile, of the way she used to scrunch her nose when she was mad. He thinks of all the good times he had with her and of why he's so sure that this was (and still is) love.

"Why in the hell else would she let herself rot in there?" He hears a faintly familiar voice say as he gets closer.

"Klaus, I am not going to go in there just to check and see if I can get out." It's a female voice and the placement of where he'd heard it is on the tip of his tongue.

"Don't try that sire bullshit on me, we both know that it doesn't work." As he gets closer he can see someone which their back to him.

"Well why don't you come down he..." The woman stops talking and looks around. She pauses when she spots him and from the distance he is from her he notes she looks familiar.

"If you don't tell me to go, I'll stick around town and see if I can find someone to help." she says, still staring at him. He still trying to peice together who she is, but as he keeps moving forward.

"So I can stay and interact with the people of this town?" She asks. He stops in his own tracks when he's close enough to see who it is standing by the tombs talking on the phone.

And he doesn't know how, but he can guess.

"I'll talk to you later," she says, quickly hanging up the phone and smiling at him.

. . .

His first time had been with Lydia (though he'd later imply to Katherine that she was his first).

She had sneaked into his room, though he doesnt think she had intended to do more then kiss and sleep. It just kind of happened.

They'd been kissing and his hands just moved on their own accord, pulling her closer, and skimming his hands over her.

She's pulled away in surprise, and he quickly aplogized. But she laughed at his aplogy, telling him that she was just surprised by it, but that she had liked it.

"I know this isn't our last night together, you've already promised to return to me, but I want to have this night with you."

So they shared that night and all it's mishaps. He had problems taking off her dress (too much damn lace), he came as soon as she touched him (she smiled sweetly at him and told him it was okay), she bleed on the sheets, and she didn't cum at all.

It was the worst sex he'd ever head and it was also the most loving sex. Even with Katherine, another women he loved, the sex hadn't made him feel so loved and cared for.  
Lydia had smiled at him, gently stroked his hair, made him feel like all the mistakes were okay, and they had talked after.

"I'm sorry that this wasn't the night you wanted" he had said after.

"I'm spending it with you, the other detail are trivial," she'd said response.

"I lo-"

"Don't say it, it'll sound like good bye. Say it to me when we see each other again," she'd said, kissing his chest.

"But I want you to hear me say it," he'd said, kissing the top of her.

"I want hear you say it, just not today. I don't want to ruin the memory by feeling as though you're only saying it to say good bye."

. . .

"It's been a very long time," she says, and he just stares at her, "I've wanted to talk to you so many times, I've wanted to go to you, I wanted to talk to you again so many times."

"Lydia..." He says, still trying to process.

"Damon, I..." He doesn't let her finish. His lips are on her's before she can finish her sentence.

**[Author Note]**

I have zero idea where this came from, but here it is. Okay it might have come from me thinking about how Damon has horrible luck with women in the long run.

And I wanted to experiment with a Klaus that wasn't such a villain (though I adore him as such too). So the curse is already broken (I'll touch on this next chapter), he just really wants revenge on Katherine and blood from Elena.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and will stick around for the rest of this ride.

**[/|\]**

I'd love to hear feedback positive or negative, but please, for the love of whatever you find holy, **REVIEW**!

I do believe that some stories are victims of bystander syndrome. You assume that someone else will, never thinking that maybe no one will.  
So always **REVIEW** and I'll love you unconditionally if you do so!


	2. Chapter Two

**Immortality My Darlings**

**[Chapter Two]**

She loves him, but she was forced to let him go by the original who turned her.

He had gone to war and she was left to wait. Luckily she had Sarah to entertain her.

Her sister, Sarah, kept going on and on about how handsome his brother, Stefan, was and how she wanted to marry him too. Sarah even suggested that they could have a double wedding.

"You're only thirteen, wedding bells are not in you're near future," she had said, trying her best not to smile.

"I don't care, I just want to be Mrs. Stefan Salvatore. Is that so wrong, Mrs. Damon Salvatore," said Sarah, exaggerating Damon's name.

"I might be Damon's future wife, but I won't be Mrs. Damon Salvatore. I'll be Mrs. Lydia Salvatore. Damon can keep his first name," she had said, walking from her nagging little sister.

That was her last conversation with her sister.

It was that night she awoke to screams. She could only see flames burning out her window, but it was enough make her run down the stairs and out the door without grappling a robe or anything to cover herself with.

That's when she saw two dead bodies and a man butting into her sister's neck.

"Sarah!" she'd screamed, seeing that her sister's eyes were moving. She had to try to help her, she had too.

But she didn't make it to her sister in time.

The man dropped her sister and approached her. She tried to take step back, but the man was in front of her quickly. She held his eye contact, unsure of what was about to happen.

He bit into his wrist and pushed it against her mouth, forcing her to drink his blood. And then he snapped her neck.

. . .

She silently cursed herself for thinking that one of her Loui Vuittons would survive Mystic Falls' woods. Even though she was moving with super speed her heels were close up getting stuck.

At least they weren't her favorites.

If they were her favorites she would already be on the phone bitching to Kluas about sending her here, not that she hadn't already given him an earful for it. He knew full well how hard it was for her to be here and not going straight to the Salvatore home.

But she'd learned self control along time ago from being forced to hang with the Originals. So instead of going and seeing the man she's always loved, she's looking for a hole in the ground were her ancestor Katerina might be.

She'd never met Katerina, but she hated her.

If Katerina had allowed Kalus to do his ritual, instead of taking a fake moon stone and running, Sarah would be alive and she (Lydia) would have married Damon and had children.

More than the one that might have died with her when Klaus turned her.

. . .

She had been throwing up off and on for over a week when the doctor's assistant finally came to check on her.

The questions had been prodding and personal, but then the woman smiled at her and came close.

"You aren't married yet, but I have to ask have you..." She didn't say the words, but Lydia knew what she meant.

"With my fiancé, before he left for war. I wanted a night with him, just in case," she said, feeling tears slide down her face.

"Well when he returns, you both should marry quickly. The child should have both a mother and a father."

"The child?!"

"You haven't bleed in over a month, you aren't a virgin, and you've been throwing up."

She didn't know what to say to that, she wasn't sure if she should be happy, sad, angry (at herself), or what.

"If you aren't ready I can make someth-"

"No!"

She couldn't even think of ending a life that Damon helped to create.

But in the end it didn't matter.

It didn't matter.

. . .

She shook her head, she didn't want to think of the child that had died with her (assuming that there was a child, pregnancy detection was mostly guessing and hoping at such an early stage). Instead she needs to focus on getting her great, great, great, great (great?) grandmother location and do her best not to drive a stake through the bitch's heart.

If Katerina had just let Klaus break the curse with her, Sarah wouldn't have been murdered, she (Lydia) would have great grandchildren roaming about with the last name Salvatore.

"They would have been really cute kids too," she mumbles to herself as she keeps moving.

Eventually she stumbles upon the remains on the old Fell's Church, burnt down and in ruins. She jumps down the giant hole and cautiously moves forward. There's a single door that leads somewhere

"Katerina?" she calls out, not wanting to wander through the doorway, "Katerina Petrova?"

She hears movement and soon sees an older Sarah (though she knows it's actually Katerina) looking disheveled and like she had gone on a bender and was in the middle of her hangover.

"Who are you and how do you know that name?" demands Katerina, not moving out of the hallway.

"I think the better question is why you're in there instead of out here," she says, "From what I've heard you like to be out, in the sun, and the center of everything. Doesn't matter I guess, Klaus will be happy to know you're here."

"Who are you?"

"You're great, great, great, great granddaughter, turned vampire, because of you."

She doesn't give Katerina a chance to say anything, before she's out of that hole, calling Klaus.

"What did you find?" He demands as soon as he answers.

"Well hello to you too, friend," she says, rolling her eyes at him.

"Lydia," he warns, and she rolls her eyes.

"Katerina trapped in what I think is a tomb by what I assume is a witch's spell," she says, shifting on her feet as she spoke, trying to not let her heels get stuck in the mud.

"Really and are you sure she's trapped?"

"Why in the hell else would she let herself rot in there?" she says, rolling her eyes his question.

"Why don't you go and see if you can get out," says Klaus, and she can picture an eye roll or something.

"Klaus, I am not going to go in there just to check and see if I can get out."

"You will go into that-"

"Don't try that sire bullshit on me, we both know that it doesn't work," she says, rolling her eyes.

"Then how else will we find out why she won't exit?"

"Well why don't you come down he..." She hears a branch break and looks around her. Lots of trees and then she sees him, coming closer. Even from a distance she knows it's him.

Damon Salvatore.

"What is it?" demands Klaus, and she can hear the annoyance in his voice.

"If you don't tell me to go, I'll stick around town and see if I can find someone to help." she says, taking in the man coming towards her and wanting to go to him. Instead she watches him come closer to her.

"Stick around until I get there," says Klaus, and she knows that he's already booking a flight from wherever it is he is.

"So I can stay and interact with the people of this town?" She asks, prying that for once Klaus will give her what she wants.

"Only until I get there," he almost growls.

"I'll talk to you later," she says, quickly hanging up the phone and smiling at him.

. . .

When she woke up after him snapping her neck, she was so hungry and all she wanted was to rip someone's throat out to get something.

"Where am I?" she asked, feeling heavy and hungry. So hungry.

"Oh she's awake," said the voice. She had tried to sit up, the heaviness and hunger weighing her down.

"I'm so hungry," she said, finally looking at the source of the voice. It's the man who killed her sister.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"What's your's?" She retorted, the hunger leaving her and anger taking its place.

"I believe I ask you first."

"You can call me the older sister of the thirteen year old girl who you killed," she snapped. He gave a small chuckle, before grabbing her chin and forcibly making her look him in the eye.

"Tell me your name," he demanded.

"Lydia Smith," she had said, despite how much she hadn't wanted to tell him, "and you are?"

"Doesn't matter, what matters is we get something into your system. Wouldn't want you to waste away," he said, moving away from her, "Now that I can make more hybrids my sister is going to need a friend. I figured you'd do."

"Thanks, but I've got my own friends, I don't need more," she said, watching him as he moved.

"You won't be able to spend time with them anymore," he said, opening the door and pulling in Mary Buckley from down the road.

"Mary!" She said, noticing the blood dripping down her friend's neck, "What happened to you?"

"Drink her blood," he'd said, and she wanted to. It smelled so good.

"Why would I do that?" she asked, fighting the urge to drink from her friend.

"Because if you don't, you'll die," he said, and she still remembers the smile he gave her and how evil and cruel it was.

"Why would I die?" She questioned, the desire to bite into Mary's neck growing as the blood kept spilling out of her.

"Because I turned you into a vampire," he said, before looking directly into her eyes again, "Now feed."

She couldn't help but bite into Mary's neck and drinking from her. The blood was warm and she couldn't think of anything ever tasting so good.

. . .

"It's been a very long time," she says, and he just stares at her, "I've wanted to talk to you so many times, I've wanted to go to you, I wanted to talk to you again so many times."

"Lydia..." He says, his brows furrowed.

"Damon, I..." He doesn't let her finish. His lips are on her's before she can finish her sentence and she feels like singing. His lips feel the same as they did before, maybe being a little colder.

He pushes her against a nearby tree and she feels his hands ghost over her. Her body hums and reacts the same as it did almost two hundred year ago. She hasn't felt alive since Klaus turned her almost two hundred year ago.

He pulls her up and she wraps her legs around his hips, pulling him closer to her. She pulls at his shirt, wanting to remove the barriers between them.

He breaks the kiss to throw his shirt elsewhere and she quickly removed her own too, throwing it in the same direction. She pulls him back to her, relishing in the feel of him against her again.

She pulls his belt off, but he stops her before she can unbutton his pants.

"I've imagined seeing you again at least hundred times, but I never..."

"I wanted to tell you that I wasn't gone, but I couldn't," she said, "And I figured that you would be happier without me, that you could grow old with someone else and have kids and be happy. I didn't find out you were a vampire until you had already left."

"Did you even try to look for me?" He asks and she wishes she could tell him yes.

"I wanted to," she says, "But I couldn't walk in the sun until a few decades ago."

"You couldn't look for me at night?"

"I didn't know where to look! By the time I knew anything, you were gone and Stefan was a ripper who didn't know anything about where you went! What was I suppose to do? Wonder the entire world hoping if stumble upon you?"

"What did you do instead? Traveled the world hoping to avoid me?"

"I traveled with a friend, and I had hope that maybe I would see you, but I never did," she said, wanting to say something she knew she couldn't.

"Would I know this friend?" He asks, and she wants to tell him that he doesn't know every vampire, but he'd only ask again.

"At first it was Nicklaus and Rebekah Mikaelson, but after the twenties it was Nicklaus and I," she said.

"Who?" He asks.

"Two of the five original vampires," she said.

"How did you end up with Originals?"

"How about we both put out shirts back on and I'll tell you," she said, pushing him away from her and grabbing her shirt.

This wasn't the reunion she thought it would be.

**[Author Note]**

Lydia hates Katherine more than anything for numerous reasons, most of which are fairly obvious.

So if you haven't already guessed Lydia's flashback are going to be about her learning to be a vampire and how she became a friends with Klaus and Rebekah. And Damon's are about his time with Lydia as a human.

But I'm not sure how the flashbacks are working with the flow, but I do need them to make Lydia work in this world.

**[\|/]**

I'd love to hear feedback positive or negative, but please, for the love of whatever you find holy, REVIEW!

I do believe that some stories are victims of bystander syndrome. You assume that someone else will, never thinking that maybe no one will.

**So always REVIEW and I'll love you unconditionally if you do so! **


	3. Chapter Three

**Immortality My Darlings**

**[Chapter Three]**

He remembers when he first through he loved her.

He was fourteen, her mother had just died, and he didn't know what to say. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying, her hair was a mess, she was dressed in all black, and he could tell that she just wanted someone to comfort her. And he had wanted to be that man, but his younger brother beat him to it.

The seven-year old handed her a dandelion and she gave him a small smile and muttered a thank you.

"When my momma died you told me that someday I would see her again," Stefan had said, "And that until then she would always be looking over for me and Damon."

He watched as the tears rolled down her face as his brother spoke, but he didn't move to interrupt.

"You're momma will look over you until you see her again too," he says, smiling at her.

"Thank you," she said, "Thank you for that."

His brother gave her another smile, before running off to play with her younger brother, Thomas.

That's when he decided to step forward to her, to try to comfort her as he could.

"Lydia, I wi-"

She hugged him and cried into his shoulder, cutting his sentence off. He held her close to him, gently rubbing her back, and he couldn't stop himself from think about how tiny and fragile she was in this moment.

He thought about how he wanted to make it so she would never have to cry again.

He thought about how he would do everything in his power to prevent the girl he loves from crying ever again.

. . .

"Is that your daylight ring?" He asks, eyeing the ring on her left ring finger. It was his mother's ring, it was the ring he proposed with.

"Yes, I've never taken it off, so it made sense to make it my daylight ring," she say, looking at the modest ring as they both walked. The band was silver with a single small diamond in the center.

It was tiny compared to most engagement rings now a days, it was tiny and small, but he could see she loved it.

"Does that mean we're still engaged?" He teases, happy to hear a tiny laugh escape her lips.

"As much as I would love that; no. I mean you thought I died, you slept with Katherine and other, and I had a few of my own affairs."

"Who? You and this Niklaus?" He asks, trying not to sound jealous.

"No, but I did have a drunken make out session with his brother Elijah... And briefly before the twenties Rebekah and I had a thing," she said, "But Rebekah and I were using each other to fill a void, so I don't think that can count."

"Are you telling me that my ex fiancé had a lesbian stage when I wasn't around to enjoy it?"

"I can't tell if you're mad or sad about that," she says looking at him, "But at least I can honestly say that I haven't loved anyone else but you."

"That's a low blow," he says, knowing she knows about his love for Katherine.

"It wasn't meant to be," she says, "I just... She's my ancestor and Sarah was her doppelgänger."

"What?" He says, stopping in his tracks.

"'What' what?" She asks, stopping as well.

"You and Katherine are related?"

"Yep," she says nonchalantly.

"Katherine and you share DNA."

"Damon are you having a problem processing how you slept with your dead fiancée's great, great, great, great, great-grandmother? Give it take a few greats," she said, smirking at him, "Or is it that fact that you might be in love with my great, great-niece?"

"What?" He asks, unaware that she knew of Elena.

"Elena Gilbert is related to me. You've really like to keep it within the family," she said, and this time he knows it's meant to be a low blow. He can see the anger in her eyes.

"Lydia," he starts, but she waves her hand to stop him.

"I know I don't have a right to be angry, to be jealous, to feel hurt, but I do. If Katherine hadn't led him here, if she had let him do the ritual back in the 1400s, if she hadn't become a vampire, then maybe Sarah and I wouldn't have died. You and I would have been married with children and grandchildren!" He can see the tear about to roll down her face, and he starts to reach out to wipe the tears away, but she slaps his hand away "You fell in love with her. You fell in love with her after she brought Klaus here. He was tracking her when he saw Sarah. He might be one of my friends, but at that time he was a monster, and she brought him here. I blamed both her and Klaus for Sarah's death, but Klaus has since earned my forgiveness many times."

"You loved Sarah more than you loved anything, how could you ever forgive anyone for taking her away from you?"

"I loved my family more than anything, and you were… are apart of that. Klaus and his sister taught me how to be a vampire and over time they became like family to me," she says.

. . .

"Damon Salvatore you will return my book this instant!" she said, stomping after him. He smirked at her demand and her tone.

"Lydia Smith how can you read this trash?" he said, looking at the book she had read.

"It isn't trash!" she said, reaching for the book. He'll admit that keeping the book away from her had it's perks, namely the feeling of her against him as she tried to reach for the book, "It's Jane Austen!"

"I don't care who wrote it, it's still trash," he said, eyeing the book in his hand. She huffed, and pushed him away from her.

"You realize that you're going to be eighteen in a few month and you're playing keep away," she said, "And I'm not going to keep playing it with you."

"What's the point of taking your book away from you if you just end up pushing me away!" he mumbled, having hoped she hadn't heard him.

"You stole my book so that I wouldn't push you away?" she asked, the corner of her lips twitching into almost a smile, "How does that make sense?"

His cheeks tinted a little, unsure how to respond to her. He couldn't tell her that he had wanted her to be pressed against him, jumping to reach the book.

"You know if you want me to press into you," she started, "You shouldn't have gone into the woods with Louise Marshall."

"It wasn't like that," he said, not knowing how she knew about Louise or how to let her know he's being honest.

"Then what was it?" she asked.

"She dragged me into the woods, because she wanted to see if we could find that oak tree we were learning about in history last week. I didn't kiss her or anything like that at all!"

"And why should I believe you?" she asked, and he could see that she was relieved by his words.

"Because..." he wants to say 'I'm in love with you', but he the words refuse to spill out, "I'm your best friend and I wouldn't lie to you."

"You might be my best friend, but you would lie to me," she said, smiling finally.

"How did you know about that anyways?" he asked, "And why would you care?"

"She was bragging about it and I care because you are my best friend," she said. He wanted to ask if that was really the reason, but Lydia had no reason to lie about how she felt, "Not to mention that our fathers will probably arrange our marriage to each other eventually."

"And you're jealous that she might have kissed me before you could?" he asked, trying not to smirk. She doesn't say anything, instead she stared at the book he had given back to her, "That's it isn't it!"

He couldn't deny the joy of thinking that she might truly be jealous of another girl having made a move before her.

"It's improper," she started, before stepping closer. He eyed her as she moved forward towards him, "To go out into the woods alone with a women you aren't courting, engaged to, or married to."

She was standing within touching distance and he couldn't help but reach out to her. He pulled her to him and gave her a quick kiss.

Her face when she pulled away was engraved into his memory. The shock, the processing, and mostly the confusion.

He didn't stick around for her to finish processing, instead he ran off, wanting to avoid any possible slap from her.

. . .

"What did he do to earn your forgiveness and become like family?" he asks, knowing it's more to do with wondering who this other man is and less to do with how she could forgive someone for taking Sarah.

"His sister was my only friend for a long while," she started, "But then a wolf bit me and I was dying. My only friend was in Paris and I was with him in England. Klaus willingly gave me his blood, despite how I'd only ever insulted him, despite how I had tried to stake him four or five times a day, and despite how I kept resurrecting his siblings. He hated me, but because I was Becca's only real friend, he saved me. It was the first moment I realized that he had a heart, buried down very, very deep, but he had one. He earned my forgiveness by saving me more times then I'd like to admit, he earned it by caring about his sister and me, and eventually he earned it by being my friend."

"You almost died?" he asks, his voice smaller than he'd thought possible.

"A few times, but mostly due to my own recklessness," she said, biting her lip.

"Damn it, Lydia!" he swears, "Why would you tell me that?"

"Because it's the truth," she says, "And you know I'm not big on the lying thing!"

"Ever heard of omission?"

"Omission is avoiding the truth, and it might as well be a lie."

"I forgot how you used to be the one to scold Stefan and your brother when they misbehaved," he mumbles, recalling how she would put one hand on her hips and shake her pointer with the other.

"Only when they deserved it!"

"Yeah but I remember Stefan crying about how much he hated your scolding. And how he was terrified of lying to you, because if you found out you'd only scold him more."

"Was I actually that terrifying?"

"To a young boy like Stefan was? You were more terrifying than a boogy man."

"Was I to you?"

"Never," he says, smiling at her, "You were, and always will be, my first love. You would never have been able to scare me." He sees a small coy smile appear on her face.

"I wish I hadn't told you not to say it that night," she says, kicking at the ground.

He is quiet for a moment, it dawning on him that neither of them had ever said that they loved the other.

"I has thought by not letting you say it would make it so you would have to come back to say it! I just didn't think that I would be the one to leave first," she says, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes, "Damon Salvatore I have been in love with you since I was seventeen and you punched George Stevens for trying to cut my skirt off with his knife."

A smile twitches on his lips, hearing the words he has always wanted to hear.

"But now I realize that we've been apart for almost two hundred years and that I don't think we could feel how we used to feel," she says, "We don't know each other anymore."

"We don't know each other?" he says, frowning.

"Are you the same man I knew before death? Because I'm not the same girl."

"Lydia, I..."

"I should be focused on business right now, anyways," she says, "I need to know what is up with that bitch down there and I need to speak with my great, great-niece."

**[Author Note]**

I am so sorry this took so long, but I have a valid reason! I'm moving from Minnesota to Nevada, and I've been packing up my stuff and trying to find someone to take my lease over and all that fun stuff. I don't know if I'll have time to update until after I've moved, but I will try to update sooner!

**[\|/]**

I'd love to hear feedback positive or negative, but please, for the love of whatever you find holy, REVIEW!

I do believe that some stories are victims of bystander syndrome. You assume that someone else will, never thinking that maybe no one will.

**So always REVIEW and I'll love you unconditionally if you do so!**


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